Did you ever try to do away with an unconstructive behavior, only to fail? There is an extended list of familiar problem behaviors that people often try to alter or do away with using hypnosis. Perhaps the most common are: Overeating and weight loss; stop smoking; quit chewing tobacco; stop nail biting; increasing self-confidence; overcoming insomnia and sleeping better; improving memory; and managing stress.

WHAT THE MIND CAUSES, THE MIND CAN CURE: The motivation for our behaviors starts in our thoughts. When you stop and think about it, all of these unconstructive behaviors are the consequence of negative thinking. In other words, you think and motivate yourself into all of these behaviors. Or at least you think yourself into feeling tense, and that can result in these behaviors. And because you think and motivate yourself into these behaviors, you can think and motivate yourself out of them as well. But in order to successfully think and motivate yourself out of these negative behaviors, you will need to know specifically how to go about accomplishing it.

DESIRE: You are probably reading this piece for the reason that you want the motivation to make some personal changes. And that's handy because the first factor in the "Motivation Formula For Your Success" is that you must want or desire to change. If you have read this far, at least a little part of you desires a change.

BELIEF IS REQUIRED FOR MOTIVATION: Before anyone can alter a negative behavior, that person must be motivated to do so. Merely wanting a behavior to change is insufficient.

Our motivation comes from what we believe. If we believe that something very important to us will get better or "become enhanced" if we make a change in our behavior, we will feel motivated. Conversely, if we believe that something very important to us will be placed in jeopardy if we don't make a change in our behavior, we will also feel motivated to alter our behavior.

Some straightforward examples of these motivational beliefs could be:

If I take some weight off, then I'll be able to find a companion.

If I quit smoking cigarettes, then I will not have to worry about cancer.

If I stop biting my nails, then my hands will be a lot prettier.

TECHNOLOGIES THAT CAN CREATE THE BELIEFS THAT LEAD TO MOTIVATION: Neuro-Linguistic Programming - which is commonly known as NLP, offers methods that are able to immediately produce the element of belief. You can learn more on this topic by reading the articles "How To Get Motivated To Exercise Using Hypnosis And NLP" and "Motivation Theory - How To Quit Smoking Using NLP And Hypnosis For Motivation." These articles are both available in my free hypnosis research library.

DECISION: The dictionary definition of the word "Decision" is making up one's mind / a verdict or judgment. When you accept as true an idea that gives you a powerful feeling of motivation to make a change, you will feel compelled to make a decision to change a negative behavior. Decision is the key that unlocks the door to compelling action.

ACTION: The dictionary definition of the word "Action" is an act or deed / to do or perform. Taking action means that rather than just thinking about making personal changes, you will actually take steps to create your desired changes.

SELF-TALK: One of the reasons that most individuals are unsuccessful at modifying a negative behavior is because of what they say to themselves. Self-talk is significant because frequently it is an important part of what caused the negative behavior in the first place.

I'd like you to think about this for a moment: Let us say that you want to break a cigarette addiction. Possibly the first thing that you may well say or think to yourself is: "I'm not going to smoke any longer."

It is universal for people to tell themselves what they aren't going to do. Unfortunately, when we tell ourselves what we aren't going to do, we are actually compelling ourselves to do it!

SELF-TALK EXERCISE: Say the following to yourself: I can't see blue. I can't see polka dots . . . . . . .

I'll bet your mind showed you the color blue, and then it showed you polka dots. That's because when we tell ourselves what we don't want to do, or what we won't do, in order to make sense of it our mind must show us doing what it is that we want to stop doing. And when we imagine ourselves in a behavior, our mind compels us to create that behavior.

SUMMARY: In order to alter a negative behavior, we must want or DESIRE to get rid of it. BELIEF is the element that leads us to MOTIVATION. MOTIVATION is the drive that compels us to DECISION. DECISION is the means to ACTION. NLP is a method that we can use to facilitate beliefs, motivation, decisions, and actions.

When we tell ourselves what we aren't going to do, we make a mental image of ourselves using the behavior that we want to eliminate. And that mental picture gives us a powerful urge to participate in the unwanted behavior. So if we want to eliminate a negative behavior, instead of telling ourselves what we will not do, we must always tell ourselves what we will do.

To stop smoking say: "I can live without them."

To eliminate cravings for fattening food or to stop chewing smokeless tobacco say: "I can live without it."

To eliminate stress say: "I'm relaxed and calm, both mentally and physically."

To fall asleep quickly and overcome insomnia say: "I fall asleep quickly, and sleep soundly and restfully throughout the night."

Alan B. Densky, CH is a certified hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner. He operates the Neuro-VISION Video Hypnosis website and the Self-hypnosis Video Blog. He offers NLP CDs for motivation. Visit the website for his free Hypnosis MP3 downloads, his research library and newsletters.